November 18, 2003

Adu signs with MLS: Passing over European interest for now, Freddie will be the youngest major league player in any sport in more than a century when he steps on the pitch next spring for DC United. Can he bring something like the level of excitement LeBron did to MLS? The timing, days before the MLS Cup, seems calculated for maximum publicity. But why was he left off the US U20 FIFA World Youth Championships roster?

I think if the U.S. men make a run deeper than the round of eight -- and I have no idea how likely that is -- then we might see soccer (er, football) surge in popularity here. If not, I'm afraid it's not gonna happen. Which is too bad.

Wait a second - a fourteen-year-old is going to play pro immediately? I know there are some young athletes in individual sports, but how will he be integrated into a locker room? Will his mom be traveling with the team?

He was left off the U-20 team for a couple reasons. The U-20 World Cup tourney, held in Dubai, was postponed because of the war. There was a set team ready to play, and to bring in a player who may or may not be able to contribute would've been unfair to the players that have played together all throughout the qualifiers. It's also uncertain whether or not he'd be able to work as a team member. (Last I heard that, one terrific player does not make a good soccer team) He did get called into a training camp last month in LA, and didn't standout (in limited minutes) in a loss against Japan's U-20 team in a friendly game. Also to debunk the mythology of Freddy scoring against the MLS Cup finalist Chicago Fire in a scrimmage against the U-17 team: The game was played in the pre-season, the players playing the Fire were end-of-benchers and players who were eventually cut. I want Adu to succeed, but more importantly I want soccer to flourish here in the US, and heaping unreasonable LeBron James-type hype on him doesn't help with the reality that he likely won't get a lot of playing time with his new team. A DC United team, mind you, that doesn't have a great track record developing young players compared to other teams in MLS. Too much hype and there is bound to be disappointment that some ignorant and naive fans would crow and potentially create a backlash that would resonate with the well-placed soccer-haters.

a) The word "scrimmage" has no place in a discussion of football. Just saying. b) If he's 14 I'll eat my hat. c) He'll be playing for Man U in two years at most. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they'd engineered this move.

Dizz, DC United seems to be doing well with Bobby Convey. Terrapin, I see Beasley giving us width from midfield. I've seen him a few times, I think he has awesome speed to recover on counterattacks and help the defense. Squeals, I think it will be more like 3 or 4 years to the EPL for him (otherwise why not just go play with the reserve team now) but that's fine, USians get another player the opportunity to develop with a club at a level not possible here and a very large transfer fee.

per the article: "according to FIFA rules for non-European Union players, he would not have been able to play on those clubs' senior teams until he turned 18." But I think squealy may still be right. He can still go over and play in the academy.

Oooh, that scrimmage comment was a bit harsh. I was drunk. No offence intended Dizz. 2,3,4 years whatever. My guess is that one of the major European clubs has got him locked into a future deal and wants him to gain some experience in his own country whilst he's still young. (However "young" he is). As the Imperial Lord Ferg has been clearly sniffing round the lad and his family my suspicions therefore point in the direction of the evil empire at the Theatre of Shite.

No offence taken. After all, you're from England. The place where football was born. Every country has its own styles of football that it fosters, it's somewhat like language, culture and commerce. Everywhere does it a bit differently, and unfortunately for you and other fans of the England national team, there are teams that do it better. That could include the USA if you value the opinion of Sir Alex. Was that too low? Oh, I apologize, too many deep-fried Twinkies I suppose.

Scrimmage is more a rugby term. And for helmet football. Also, in the US, and probably only in the US, practice or non-tournament soccer games are also called scrimmages. I think, in Association Football, in the rest of the world, the proper term is "friendly". Sniff. Too-da-loo. La-di-da. And tiddlywinks.

Holy haggis, 4-0 to Holland (3-0), and it's just the beginning of the second half. Looks like Wales are up against it, too. 1-0 down to Russia, with about 30 minutes to go. The Welsh need to score two to make the next round. Unless Russia scores again.

This is the benefit of living on the left coast. We get all the late night shows last. I'll be watching Letterman tonite. Fooker, Letterman reruns happen at night. You'll probably wanna have billsaysthis tivo it, tape it and mail the video to you. goddam, thanks for the tip. goddam!

I watched the Letterman show last nite. Adu was quite composed and funny. Even made a joke about how his first real jersey was a Nike ... Anyway, all they had him do was a silly trick where he balanced a soccer ball on his back then proceeded to take off his soccer shirt (Nike!) and put it back on without dropping the ball. Well, at least for his intro, they did show a clip of him going through about six players on his way to scoring a goal. But his interview was so short. I think they had Alex Baldwin on for like half and hour jawing on about his "Cooler" movie and quizzing Dave about how he's adjusting to being a dad. I wonder how much time Cyndi Lauper got after Adu came on. I went to bed after Adu's interview. It was only like five minutes, tops. Damn.

I never questioned if he was 14 until squealy brought it up. Hm. He seemed like he still had that fresh-faced look of youth. He's obviously very athletic (not like a lot of the high schoolers I see nowadays). I would say he's 14 or 15. It's hard to say. He was smaller than Dave. But Dave's like 6'2" or something like that, so most people would be smaller than he. Yeah, I'd say he's 14. Just a tough, fast, skilful, smart and mature 14. btw, he graduates next year. He started a year early, skipped a year, and did grades 10 and 11 in one year. Damn.

They were talking about Adu on NPR today, and the reporter said this is a big deal only coz it's in America. In Europe, lotsa youth sign with pro teams at this age. They pointed out that Beckham signed with Man U when he was 13. (They just play in the academy and reserves until they're about 17.)

Owen signed with Liverpool when he was 11. Still, how many of those European kids get comparisons with Pele when signing their first pro contract? Anyway, barring injury, his will be the first soccer career I can follow from beginning to end over a long period of time.

I think it's time we had a new category called "Adu". I'm miffed they didn't set up a little portable minigoal on stage on the Letterman show, and have Dave try to stop Freddy from scoring (watch as Dave takes a daisycutter in the nuts). Or just have Adu juggle the ball for a little a la those Nike ads. Or even set up a wall with three crew members and have Adu curl the ball around them and knock out Paul. I mean, they can set up a frickin' skate ramp for Tony Hawk or a tennis net so Dave can hit a few with Sampras (or was it McEnroe?) but they can't even let Freddy a-do some real soccer tricks.

Or even set up a wall with three crew members and have Adu curl the ball around them and knock out Paul. I would pay money to see Paul knocked out. That guy has ruined so many musical events over the past 15 years it makes me scream! I just saw one of the early SNLs, first season with Lily Tomlin, and he looked like such an incredible dork my eyes are still burning from the pain.